Rapid Ideation Lab

Co-Creation workshop for the future of mobility

The rapid ideation lab was a co-creation workshop that Lassor staged to help develop user insights on the future of urban mobility. Co-creation is a new and increasingly popular method of UX research that works by collaboratively working with non-designers. Lassor created a formal system to derive insights and documentation from a variety of participants.

Establshing parameters

After a brief presentation on the state of technology and urban development, participants were asked to design specific autonomous cars using a simple prompt card which included an area to sketch plans, as well as a ‘designer’s log’, where choices could be justified in writing.

A scaffold for insight

Participants were given a model car chassis, colorful wooden blocks, modeling clay, and small mannequins to build and test scale models of their designs. The model car included a dry-erase plastic shield to simulate a screen. This allowed participants to draw interactive digital features onto their model.

Capturing User feedback

The participants each built several vehicles. Lassor interviewed them and discussed the proposed features of each car. Whether they came from the suburbs, the city, or a distant country, each design reflected the user’s personal relationship with mobility.

OUTCOME:

The Rapid Ideation Lab resulted in dozens of proposed design interventions, which would inspire Lassor for the remainder of his research. Some of the results were practical innovations that could be used to inform actual product development. Other results were more speculative and gestured at the participant’s subjective relationship to mobility; this also provided actionable insight.